The present invention relates to a brake system preferably used to apply a brake force on a vehicle such as an automobile.
As a brake system mounted on a vehicle such as an automobile, for example, Japanese Patent Application Public Disclosure No. 2007-216896 discloses an electric parking brake apparatus configured to apply a parking brake by an electric actuator.
The electric parking brake apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Public Disclosure No. 2007-216896 is configured to allow the parking brake to be released provided that a brake pedal is operated (pressed), for example, when the system stops due to a reduction in a voltage of a power source while the parking brake is being released, and the system recovers immediately after that, as illustrated in FIG. 6 of this application.
According to the technique discussed in Japanese Patent Application Public Disclosure No. 2007-216896, if the brake pedal is not pressed when the system has recovered, a vehicle is allowed to run with release of the parking brake remaining uncontrolled even if the release of the parking brake is uncompleted. In this case, the vehicle runs with a friction lining in abutment with a brake target member rotating together with a wheel, whereby so-called brake dragging occurs, leading to a possibility of generation of uneven wear of the lining and a reduction in fuel efficiency.